Never Can Say Goodbye
by LiveLaughDreamInspire
Summary: "We made a deal and I'm honoring it. She's made her choice. I'm leaving." Damon, convinced that Elena has finally made her choice between the two brothers, honors their agreement and leaves town. Will Elena realize her true feelings before she's lost him forever?


**Authors Note: Hey everybody! Haven't written anything in a while, this one was actually a request from my friend on tumblr. She prompted Damon honoring his agreement with Stefan and leaving and I kinda just ran with it. I hope you like it! **_**(Special props to the Gleeks who know what song the title of this is from)**_

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"Goodbye brother," A deep voice broke Elena out of her slumber, she sat up awake and alert. The words weren't spoken loudly but Elena was struggling with her new heightened hearing – she's barely gotten any sleep. Now she was grateful for it. In a flash she appeared at the top of the stairs, stumbling slightly, she tried to keep quiet as she gripped the railing with one hand, righting a startled vase with the other.

It was silent downstairs; they were probably trying not to wake her. Soon it seemed they were convinced they hadn't because they started up again, quieter than before.

"Wait-" Elena recognized Stefan's voice, there was a struggle at the door but she didn't dare try to look. "You can't just leave," It was a harsh whisper and Elena felt her eyes widening. _Leave? He couldn't leave._

"Watch me," An angry Damon growled, an object she could only assume was Stefan hit the wall with great force, making a painting hit the floor. "We made a deal and I'm honoring it. She's made her choice." A gasp escaped her and her hand flew up to her mouth praying no one heard her. It felt the ground was being pulled out from under her, her grip on the railing tightened, afraid she may actually fall over.

"So you're just going to leave? When she's in the middle of this? How can you claim to love her if you're so willing to leave her at a time like this?" Stefan accuses hotly, his voice rising in anger before he let out a grunt. The sound of glass shattering filled the room.

"Don't you ever question my love for her or you'll be picking your teeth off the ground, got it?" At this point Elena was at the bottom of the stair case, standing a few feet from where Damon held Stefan to the boarding house wall. "You can teach her, you don't need me. Don't cut yourself short, we both know she's going to end up on the bunny diet anyway."

"So you're leaving?" The brothers' heads snapped towards her, clearly not used to another vampire in the house. Damon backed off Stefan, adjusting the collar of his leather jacket before thrusting his hands into the pickets in them. He gave her an emotionless face.

"That's the plan, goodbye Elena." Despite his attempts at emotionless, his eyes were like a raging storm and she could tell this was a last resort. That he didn't want to leave and more then she wanted him too.

"Damon-" She stepped forward, reaching out for his as he took a step back. "Please, I can't do this without you." Elena pleaded, she felt like screaming. She wanted to throw things around the room and sob, wanted to break everything in sight. Didn't he realize how important he was to her? Doesn't he know that she can't live without him? Doesn't even want to try? He's gotten under her skin in a way she couldn't shake, she couldn't claw him out.

"Yes, you can," Damon's hands gripped her shoulders and she could feel hot tears trailing down her cheeks. "You're strong, Elena. Stronger than any of us give you credit for." And then he was gone, the front door hit the opposite wall with a gust of wind, like he was never there. She let out a sob as she ran for the door, ignoring Stefan's calls of protest behind her.

"Damon!" Elena shouted, her new eyes picking up a trail of broken branching at the mouth of the forest. She stumbled in that direction. "Damon! Please!" She cried, not caring how weak it sounded, how it must appear to the other Salvatore brother who was without a doubt watching her breakdown.

"I don't want to be strong!" She yelled into the dark, falling to her knees at the end of the tree line, where she stayed, her body raking with sobs. Elena wasn't sure how long she stayed there, it felt like years before she felt Stefan's hand on her shoulder.

"Elena-"

"Don't touch me."

. . .

"You need to get over this," Caroline said with a sigh, chucking an unknown box into her closet. Elena shook her head, perching on top of Caroline's bed as she watched the blonde flutter around the room with a variety of new clothes. "It's been like over a month, and my mom's kind of tired of your calls, no offense or anything."

"Care, you don't understand,"

"Oh shut it, Elena. The only thing I don't understand is why you didn't shack up with Damon months ago."Caroline spoke with a shrug, her blonde curls flying everywhere as she plopped down on the bed beside Elena.

"Because not everything is about sex, Caroline." Elena deadpanned, shaking her head at her sex addict of a best friend.

"I'm not just talking about sex, Elena!" Caroline yelled exasperated. "The way I see it, and it _kills _me say this, is that you obviously love him. More than you're letting on, maybe even more than you're admitting to yourself. And that's not fair to Damon, your current hot ass boy toy, and most importantly yourself." A perfectly manicured finger wiggled in front of her face.

"Caroline, it's just – I love them both," Didn't she understand? She couldn't lose either one of them.

"Do you? Tell me something, if you could be with Damon and have nothing change with your friendship with Stefan, would you do it?"

"I-I don't know," Elena stuttered, looking down at her hands, weaving them together in every possible combination. _Yes you do_, her brain countered. _You haven't even kissed Stefan in a month_. "Okay, yes. _Yes_."

Her vision blurred as she looked up at Caroline. "God, what am I going to do, Care? I know it's wrong, I'm so selfish. I'm not any better than Katherine." She watched as a grin broke out on the blondes face. "What?" She questioned, rubbing her eyes with the end of her sleeves.

"Here's your chance to fix it. I know where Damon is."

. . .

Elena paced outside of the apartment door. She went through hell and back to get here and now she didn't know what she was supposed to do.

_What if he's changed? What if he doesn't love me anymore?_

She's come too far not to even try. Before she could talk herself out of it, Elena knocked on the door, attempting to calm her over heightened emotions as she waited for a response on the other side.

She didn't question when Caroline told her about this place, claiming that Damon told her about it way back when he first came to Mystic – it seemed like a life time ago.

The door swung open and a familiar mess of raven hair came into view, she almost threw herself at him in relief. His blue eyes widened at the sight of her and his hand tightened on the door, starting to shut it and her arm few out to stop the motion.

"Damon, listen to me." She pleaded with him, no way in hell she was going to let him walk out of her life again.

"There's nothing to listen to, Elena."Damon grounded out, his hand running through his hair, Elena desperately wanted to reach out and rake her fingers through the soft strands but she shook the ridiculous notion away. "You can't keep doing this to me," His eyes held a sort of sadness that shook her to the core, she felt like she was drowning.

"You were right," Elena whispered, moving in closer, forcing him to take a step back so they were both in the room now.

"About what?"

"_Everything_. Everything I wanted, everything I was looking for – love, passion, adventure, _danger_."

"Elena-"

"No let me finish," She held up a hand to stop him. "And I found it, and it was everything I could have ever wanted." She looked up, meeting his gaze. "But then it left me."

Elena watched as he struggled to find words or maybe just struggling to believe her. And she was going to make him. Because really, she couldn't breathe without him. And if he was going to leave her forever she was going to make damn sure he knew it.

"Elena, what are you trying to say?" She swore she's never heard him sound so hopeful, so desperate to believe her but wouldn't let himself dream any more. And she wanted to kill anyone who's ever made him feel like he wasn't good enough.

"I'm trying to tell you that _I love you_. You _consume_ me. I don't think I can live without you and I don't want to try." And there it was. Once she started she couldn't stop and she laid it all out on the line. It was all out in front of him now and Elena prayed he would take her because no one had the power to break her quite like he did.

Nothing. He didn't move, he didn't speak and she was growing nervous under his gaze, if he didn't speak soon she was going to chalk this up as a mistake and try not to cry on her way out. She turned for the door, wrenching it open and vowing that she'd at least try and make it off this floor.

The door shut in front of her and she watched as the hand that wasn't on the door gripped her elbow and spun her around. And then he kissed her and it wasn't like all those other times, those kisses that used to fill her with some unknown emotion where _nothing_ compared to the way his lips were gliding across hers now.

His hand left her arm, trailing fire down to her waist as her back hit the door with a thud. Her own arms found their way to his chest, feeling the muscles there as she slid them over her shoulders and around his neck, pushing herself closer.

Damon pulled back from her, dipping his head to leave hot kisses along the length of her neck and she let out a gasp, gripping him tighter as he pulled her farther into the room.

. . .

"Don't ever leave me again," Elena mumbled, burying her face into his chest. She felt him exhale, smiled at the feel of his chest rising and falling with each breath.

"I could never leave you." And just like that, he pulled her under once again.

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**Authors Note: Good, horrible? Who wants to break the news of how rusty I am to me? Haha, until next time!**

**REVIEW PLEASE**


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